Poland’s government has approved plans to expand its hate crime laws to include protections based on sexual orientation, gender, age, and disability. Offenders found guilty of such hate crimes could face prison sentences.
Existing Polish legislation already criminalises public insults based on national, ethnic, racial, or religious affiliation, with penalties of up to three years in prison. However, the justice ministry has argued that current laws fail to adequately protect all vulnerable groups.
In response, the ministry has proposed extending hate crime provisions to cover discrimination related to disability, age, gender (płeć, a term that encompasses both “sex” and “gender” in Polish), and sexual orientation.
“The new regulations aim to more fully implement the constitutional prohibition of discrimination and align with international standards for protection against hate speech and hate crimes,” explained the justice ministry, which drafted the proposal.
This initiative addresses long-standing concerns raised by international organisations such as the UN Human Rights Council, which criticised Poland for not including sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or disability as grounds for hate crimes.
The legislation is a key element of the coalition agreement that brought the liberal government to power last year, replacing the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party. During PiS’s leadership, Poland faced significant criticism for its rhetoric against what it termed “LGBTQ+ ideology” and “gender ideology.” This approach contributed to Poland’s ranking as the least inclusive EU country for LGBTQ+ rights for five consecutive years.
While the initial draft legislation included “gender identity” (tożsamość płciowa) as a protected category, the justice ministry ultimately decided that the term “sex/gender” (płeć) would provide sufficient coverage. This decision has been criticised by groups such as Lambda, an LGBTQ+ rights organisation, which called the exclusion of “gender identity” troubling. Trans-Fuzja, a group advocating for transgender rights, warned that the omission risks leaving one of the most vulnerable communities unprotected.
Under the proposed legislation, public insults or incitements to hatred against protected groups could result in imprisonment for up to three years. Violence or threats motivated by bias could lead to sentences of up to five years.
The government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, has approved the draft legislation, which will now be submitted to parliament. Given the ruling coalition’s majority, the bill is expected to pass. Once approved, President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, will decide whether to sign it into law, veto it, or refer it to the constitutional court.
President Duda, whose term ends next year, has previously opposed what he described as “LGBTQ+ ideology” during his 2020 re-election campaign. PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński has also claimed that “LGBTQ+ ideology” undermines Western values, while Kraków’s archbishop, Marek Jędraszewski, controversially likened it to communism and Nazism.
Despite the lack of comprehensive legal protections, LGBTQ+ groups in Poland have achieved some victories. Earlier this year, for example, a court issued a binding defamation conviction against the head of a conservative organisation that displayed slogans linking LGBTQ+ people to paedophilia on vehicles.
